By Alabama Public Radio
Montgomery, AL – The state plans to spend 845-thousand dollars to place more troopers on Interstate 20 between Birmingham and Georgia. State Transportation Director Joe McInnes says it would be a good investment, and it could happen by early next year. Fifty people have died on that portion of the interstate since 1998. Most of those crashes involved median crossovers. Last March, the state Department of Transportation received a 550-thousand-dollar federal grant for extra traffic enforcement along Interstate 20 in Jefferson and Saint Clair counties. In February, the department had received a 295-thousand dollar grant for part-time patrols in Talladega, Calhoun and Cleburne counties. McInnes says both of those grants will be renewed next year.